Some people would have been changed by the fame and wealth that L.L. Bean earned the family as the decades wore on. But those who knew Jim Gorman, Sr . say his humility continued to define him through his last days. Photo courtesy of Shawn Gorman
At 6 feet 6 inches tall, James “Jim” Gorman Sr. was a towering figure on the football field and in the boardroom. But his greatest gift may have been his ability to make others feel as big as he was.
Gorman, the grandson of Leon Leonwood Bean, died at the age of 91 on Sunday, surrounded by relatives. In the days before his death, more than a dozen family members flocked to his Cumberland Foreside home to say their goodbyes and to honor a life they say embodied the values that have made L.L. Bean one of Maine’s most celebrated institutions.
“We all got to basically tell him everything that he meant to us at the end of his life,” said Billy Gorman, one of Jim’s 10 grandchildren. “He was the perfect example of what it means to be a man.”
A GIANT OF A MAN
L.L. Bean board Chairman Shawn Gorman remembers being in awe of his father’s physical prowess as a child. While he and his brothers would need to pair up to lug a heavy bag of cement across the yard, Jim could sling three or four over his shoulder. Other kids would gape at the former Cheverus and Bowdoin football star: “Your dad is a giant.”
“I know,” Shawn remembers answering. “He’s my giant.”
Shawn was older when he realized just how far his father’s talents extended beyond simply being big. He was home from school, lost in a sea of formulas as he tried to make sense of his physics homework. When he finally asked his dad for help, Jim figured out what he was doing wrong in about 30 seconds and rattled off the correct formula, which he still had memorized from his time in college decades earlier.
When Jim came of age, L.L. Bean was still just a successful local business, not the international powerhouse it has since become, Shawn said. He decided he could find more success by making his own way than by joining the family business. After leaving Bowdoin and serving a two-year stint with the Army, he earned an engineering degree from the University of Maine, married Maureen Margaret Sargent of South Freeport, and began a career at Western Electric in North Andover, Massachusetts.
The couple and their four kids lived a relatively modest “middle-middle class,” life, Shawn Gorman remembers. They shared one bathroom in their New Hampshire home, and vacations usually involved piling into a station wagon and towing a camper to some mountain to climb or river to fish in. Maureen was the extrovert, assertive and full over energy. Jim was more understated. He wasn’t the type to tell you that he loved you every day, Gorman said, but he would show it with his actions – he never missed a soccer or basketball game that his kids were playing in, and when Shawn Gorman accidentally totaled his father’s car on his birthday, the first and only question Jim asked was, “Is everybody OK?”
Jim Gorman, Sr. and his wife Maureen Gorman. Photo courtesy of Shawn Gorman
Some people would have been changed by the fame and wealth that L.L. Bean earned the family as the decades wore on. But those who knew him say Jim’s humility continued to define him through his last days.
‘HE DID IT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS’
By the time Steve Hutnak started providing tax advice to L.L. Bean and some members of the Gorman family in the late 90s, the company had established itself as a heritage American brand and bestowed on Leon’s descendants incredible fortunes and unique opportunities. Jim, who joined the company’s board of directors in 1974, had gone from climbing Mount Washington’s Tuckerman Ravine in New Hampshire to Mount Everest. He was part of the 1990 Peace Climb, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of Earth Day by sending climbers from the U.S., China and Russia to remove trash left on the mountainside.
Hutnak knew from experience that men with the kind of power and money the Gormans possess sometimes wield it as a cudgel against ordinary people. But the better he got to know Jim and his relatives, he said, the more he realized the family values they trumpeted – integrity, respect, stewardship of the environment – were more than just a branding exercise; they were words Jim lived by.
Shelly Bartlett, who worked with Jim for about 20 years when he served as chair of the company’s audit committee, described him as “a dream to work with.” She said he was the type to greet every employee he bumped into, from executives to retail workers, and thank them for making the company hum.
Jim went out of his way to make the people around him feel like his equals, Hutnak said. And in private, he and Maureen donated huge amounts of money to hospitals, food banks, schools and other charities. While many philanthropists give because they think it will earn them some type of prestige, the couple often preferred not to attach their name to their gifts.
Jim Gorman, Sr. lived for another 16 years after being diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2007. Even as age and illness slowed him down, he continued to find ways to enjoy the sunshine, trusting dry humor and his family to help get him through painful days. Photo courtesy of Shawn Gorman
“He did it for the right reasons,” Hutnak said. “He did it because he could and because he knew it was the right thing to do.”
He also understood the lesson that sits at the heart of the L.L. Bean ethos: Life is about the people you share it with. He lived for his brother Leon’s annual fishing trip, where he impressed Hutnak not just with his skills with a rod but with the way he milked enjoyment out of every moment: breakfast and coffee on the porch, a conversation with a guide on the canoe, swapping stories over dinner.
Jim Gorman lived for another 16 years after being diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2007, a feat of fortitude that family members say shocked his doctors. Even as age and illness slowed him down, he continued to find ways to enjoy the sunshine, trusting dry humor and his family to help get him through painful days.
And he continued to inspire another generation of heirs to the Bean legacy. Billy Gorman says he and the other grandkids, many of whom piled into Jim’s home and guest house over the weekend so they could see their grandfather off to his next adventure, will carry his lessons with them.
“I think that’s kind of the reward for living a good life, right?” Billy Gorman said. “You bring these people up and you show them a good example, and then they’re able to kind of coax you to a smooth landing.”
A Catholic funeral service will take place at 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Portland, followed by a private interment for the family. The public is invited to a reception at the Portland Country Club, 11 Foreside Road, Falmouth, immediately following the church service.
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